Trolley-pole controller.



PATENTBD JUNE 23, 1903. J LODONNELL. TROLLEY POLE CONTROLLER.

APPLIOATION FILED SEPT. 22, 1902.

2 SHEBTS-SHBBT 1,

N0 MODEL.

JeIq. 5.

jmremtor No 731,606. PATBNTED JUNE 23, 1903.

- J. J. ODONNELL. I

TROLLEY POLE CONTROLLER. v APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 22, 1902. no MODEL. 2 sns'rssnnn'r 2.

Patented June 23, 1903.

PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN JOSEPH ODONNELL, OF AYLMER, CANADA.

TROLLEY-POLE CONTROLLER.

$PECIFTCATION forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 731,606, dated June 23, 1903. Application filed September 22,1902. Serial lilo. 124,465. (No model.)

To (tZ whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN JOSEPH ODoN- NELL, electrician, of the village of Aylmer, in the county of Ottawa, Province of Quebec, Canada, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Trolley-Pole Controllers, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in controllers for trolley-poles; and the objects of my invention are to provide a device which may be attached to the back of a trolley-car and which will serve to continually take up the slack of the trolley-cord, and, further, should the trolley-pole 'fiy off the wires to immediately bring the trolley-pole down toward the top of the car entirely clear of the cross wires; and it consists, essentially, ofa suitable casing having a central shaft, a pulley mounted on said shafton which the trolley cord is wound, said pulley being provided with a suitable spring whereby itis caused to rotate and take up the slack of the trolleycord, the said springnot being of sulficient strength to prevent the trolley-pole from fol lowing the unevennesses of the'trolley-wire,

an emergency-spring being located in said casingand mechanism being provided be tween said pulley and said emergency-spring, whereby when the trolley-pole comes oif the wire the sudden jerk given to the cord will by centrifugal force cause the mechanism on the pulley to engage the mechanism attached to the side plates between which the emergency-spring is held, the effect being to re lease the said spring,which will wind up the trolley-cord on the pulley, thus drawing the trolley-pole down toward the top of the car,

the various parts of the device being con-.

structed and arranged in detail as hereinafter more particularly described.

Figure 1 is a perpective view of the casing, part of which is broken away to show the interior parts, the pulley having been removed therefrom. Fig. 2 is .a perspective view of the pulley, showing the centrifugal clutch mechanism in itsnormal position and showing in dottedlines its position when caused to fly out. Fig. 3 is an elevation of the mechanism on one of the plates between which the large spring is secured. Fig. 4 is a perspec tiveview of the casing, showing a preferable fastening device.

collar and in this slot aslidable plunger g method of securing the same removably to the back of a car. Fig. 5 is a longitudinal elevation of the mechanism of the device, the casing having been removed. Fig. 6 is a view of the end of the pulley, showing the spring which tends to keep the cord wound thereon.

Fig. 7is a detail of a portion of the large spring, showing a safety device for securing the same to the central shaft.

In the drawings like letters of reference indicatecorresponding parts in each figure.

A is the casing, which is substantially cylindrical in form and is preferably cast with the end piecea integral therewith.

B is an end cover-plate for the end a of the casing.

O is a central shaft, which extends throughout the length of the casing and is securely fastened by a nut b at the pulley end of the casing and by suitable means at the emergency-spring end of the casing.

D is a pulley which is mounted on the shaft 0.

The trolley-cord E (shown in dotted lines in Fig. 5) passes through the hole a in the casing A and is wound on the drum or pulley D. It is essential for the proper working of the device that the trolley-cord should be held taut all the time, and consequently a spring F is provided within the circular wall (1, formed on the side plate of the pulley.' This spring is secured at one end to the stationary shaft 0, and its other end is secured to a pin or post d, the said pin being firmly secured to the side plate of the pulley. The spring F is made comparatively light, and it will-thus be seen that as the trolley-pole follows the uneven portions of the trolley-wire the spring F will cause the pulley to wind up the trolley-cord or allow the same to be unwound, as required.

G is a steel emergency-spring, which is located between the two plates H H; the said plates being firmly secured together by the bolts h. The spring G is secured to the cenbut the means which I prefer to employ are as follows: A collar 9 is secured to the shaft C by means of a set-screw g or other suitable A slot extends into the tral stationary shaft (J by suitable means;

is located. A spring 9 is placed in the slot g and is designed to force the plunger g outwardly. A longitudinal slot 9 is formed in proximity to the inner end of the spring G, and the plunger g is designed to extend through this slot. The face of the plunger in proximity to the end of the spring is flat, but the rear face g is beveled. It will thus be seen that should anything happen that would permit the spring G to very rapidly unwind the plunger Would be forced back into the slot, thus permitting the ends of the spring to turn loosely, and accident would thus be avoided. The outer end of the spring G is secured to one of the bolts h in a suitable manner.

a represents steps, which are either cast on the inner periphery of the casing or are secured thereto.

A latch Iis slidably held in a groove h, formed in the side plate H. This latch is forced upwardly bya suitable spring 'L', which is secured to a projection h from the side plate H. The forwardv face 2" of the said latch is designed to engage one of the stops a and thus it will be seen that when the spring G is wound up it will be prevented from unwinding by the said latch.

I will now proceed to describe the mechanism on the side plate H and on the side plate (1 of the pulley D whereby when a sudden jerk comes on the trolley-rope the mechanism on the pulley will release the latch I and at the same time engage the mechanism of the side plate I-I, thus allowing the spring G to rapidly turn the wholeinterior mechanism of the device, the result being that the trolleycord will wind onto the pulley D, and thus the trolley-pole will almost immediately be pulled down below the level of the cross-wires, so that all damage will be prevented.

The latch I is provided with two projections 1' 11 A lever J is pivotally secured to the plate H by a suitable pin or pivotj. This lever passes between the projections i and i and curves downwardly in such a way as to approximately follow the curve of the circumference of the side plate H. Astop h is formed on or secured to the side plate H, and the leverJ abuts this stop, and thus prevents the spring 2' from forcing the latch I out farther than it is necessary forit go. A projec-. tion j is formed at or near the end of the lever J and extends toward the pulley D.

K is a lever, which is pivotally secured near the center of the side plate H. A suitable spring k tends to force the free end of the lever K toward the circumference of the side plate H. Atthe free end of the lever K vided with a .notch 2' on one side, and the porof this bar extends normally beyond the circumference of the side plate H, and one side, m, of the said bar is designed to engage the stops 0. The other side, m is beveled or curved, so as to slide over the said stops.

Z is a spring, which is secured to the side plate H by any suitable means and is designed to press upwardly against the lower side of the bell-crank lever L.

Referring to Fig. 1, it will now be seen that if the lever J be pulled downwardly in the direction indicated by the arrow the latch I will be drawn down out of engagement with the stops a and the beveled face beneath the notch 2' will come in contact with the beveled face 1 of the bell-crank lever and they will slip over each other till the tooth l snaps into and engages the notch i, and thus the latchI will beheld in the lower position until such time as the bell-crank lever is caused by the bar M to swing back and release the latch. The mechanism on the pulley by means of which these various operations are performed I will now proceed to describe.

N and N are the two centrifugal clutch-bars, which are pivoted at n and 02 between the brackets O O and the side plate d of the pulley D. A rocking lever P is provided and is rotatably mounted on the central shaft 0.

. Connecting rods or links Q Q are secured to the ends of the double lever P, and at their opposite ends they are pivotally secured to the bars N and N. A spiral spring R is pro- I vided and is secured at one end to the end of one of the bars N N by suitable means. The opposite end of the said spring may be directly secured to the side plate d but in order to permit of its beingadjusted I prefer to attach its end to one end of a lever r, the other end of the said lever being in contact with the end of a set-screw r, which extends through a projection r formed on the side plate (1 By means of this set-screw the tension of the spring B may be regulated. During the ordinary running of the car the trolley-cord and the spring F will cause the pulley-to rotate backward and forward at a fairly even and regular rate of speed, but when asudden jerk or pull comes on the trolley-cord the pulley will be caused to rotate very quickly, the result being that the bars N N, through centrifugal force, will be caused to fly out in spite of the pull of the spring B into the positions shown in dotted lines in Fig. 2. The

side plate (1 has stops d and 01 formed thereon to prevent the said bars from swinging the bars N N. Under ordinary circumstances theposition of the mechanism on the side plate H is as shown in Fig. 1, and the mechanism on the side plate (it of the pulley D is -in the position shown in full in Fig. 2; but

when, as above described, the bars N N fly out into the position shown in dotted lines in Fig. 2 either one or other of the cams n n will engage the projeo'tionsj and 70 on the levers J and K, respectively; As the pulley D continues to revolve the cam which has engaged the projectionsj and 70 will draw the levers J and K down to the positions shown in Fig. 3, and it will be seen that in this position the latch Iis engaged by the bell-crank lever L, so that the spring G is now free to act in rotating the entire mechanism in the direction indicated by the arrow thepulley in Fig. 3. The entire mechanism, including D, will now be rapidly turned by the emergency-spring G until the trolley-pole has been drawn down such a distance that the strength of its springs will counteract the efiect of the springG and the trolley-pole will come to rest. In order to replace the trolley-pole, the conductor on the car has only to pull upwardly on the trolley-cord, the effeet of this pull being first torotate the entire mechanism of the device in the direction opposite to the direction indicated by the arrow. The releasing-bar M will engage the first one of the stops a which it comes to and, pressing against the bell-crank lever L,

"will cause the latch I to be released, and

the said latch will immediately spring back to its normal position, as shown in Fig. 1..

The pin or projectionj' on the lever J, it may here be observed, slips over the end of the cam n just at the moment when the tooth Z l has engaged the notch t. (See Fig. 3.) So it conductor pulling on the trolley-rope, and as.

will be seen that the lever J will not be prevented from flyingback when thelatch is released; but the projection k on the lever K is stillheld by the cam, and it is by means of the contact between these two parts that the spring G rotates the pulley. The curved face 2' of the latch I will slide over the stops a while the spring is being wound up by the soon as the spring hasbeen suiiiciently wound up the conductor will slacken the rope, thus allowing the cam Won the centrifugal clutch or bar N to slide clear of the projection is, so

that the bars N N will return to their normal position, as shown in Fig. 2, owing to the pull of the spring R, and the swinging bar K will a return to its normal position, owing to the pressure of the spring 7c. The operation will now com mence as before, and the trolleycord will wind and unwinduntila sharp pull takes place, when the previously-described operation will be repeated.

I It will nowbe seen that I have invented a A variety of means might be employed for securing this device to the car and it might also be secured in a number of diiferent places which would be convenient under various circumstances. I prefer, however, to secure the machine to the rear portion of the car, and for this purpose I provide aplate S, having grooves 8 formed therein. This plate is designed to be secured to the back of the car, and tongues 0, which are formed on the casing, are adapted to slide into the said grooves,thereby holding the machine in place. A plate, such as S, may be attached to both ends of a car if the car has to be reversed, so that the device may be secured to the end of the trolley-car at which the pole is being used.

In the construction of my device for practical purposes it will be understood that a great many variations in the details of the mechanism may be made without departing from the spirit of my invention, although the forms of the Various parts shown in the drawings are found to work satisfactorily. For example, instead of using two centrifugal clutch-arms N and N, as shown, it might be preferable to only use one in order to make a slight reduction in the cost of the device, though of course it would not act as quickly as when two clutches are used. Various forms of stops for limiting the motion of the swinging arms might also be used, the forms shown in the drawings being taken for purposes of illustration only. Changes might also be made in the form of the frame or casing; but as all such changes come within the scope of my invention they need not be here described in detail.

. What I'claim as my invention is- 1. In a device of the class described a suitable frame or casing, a stationary supportingshaft therein, a winding-drum for the trolley-cord mounted on said shaft, a spring acting on said drum to cause it to take up the slack of the trolley-cord, a pair of connected plates journaled on said shaft, an emergencyspring having one end fixed and the other end connected with the plates, aspring-actuated bolt or latch slidably carried by the plate adjacent the winding-drum, said bolt being normally held with its end projecting normally beyond the disk, a stop on the frame or casing designed to engage the end of said bolt, means carried by the drum for with-.

drawing the latch to allow the emergencyspring to rotate the plates when said drum is suddenly rotated and means for causing the rotation of the plates to rotate the drum to wind up the trolley-cord, substantially as:de-

shaft therein, a winding-drum for the trolley-cord mounted on said shaft, a spring acting on said drum to cause it to take up the slack of the trolley-cord, a pair of connected plates journaled on said shaft, an emergencyspring having one end fixed and the other end connected with the plates, a spring-actuated bolt or latch slidably carried by the plate adjacent the winding-drum, said bolt being normally held with its end projecting normally beyond the disk, astop on the frame or casing designed to engage the end of said bolt, centrifugal-controlled means carried by the drum for Withdrawing the bolt when the drum is suddenly rotated to allow the emergency-spring to rotate said plates and means for connecting said plates with the drum. to wind up the trolley-cord, substantially as described.

3. In combination the frame or casing having a stationary shaft, trolley-cord-winding drum journaled thereon, a spring acting on said drum to take up the slack of the cord, a pair of connected plates journaled on said shaft, an emergencyspring acting on said plates,a bolt carried by one of said plates adapted to project normally outward, a projection carried by said casing designed to engage said bolt, a lever-arm for operating said latch, a projection supported from one of the plates and centrifugal arms carried by the drum adapted on sudden rotation of said drum to shift said lever-arm and engage said projection, substantially as described.

4:. In combination, the frame or casing having a stationary shaft, a trolley-cord-winding drum journaled on said shaft, a spring acting'on said drum, a plate journaled on said shaft, adjacent the drum, an emergencyspring tending to rotate said plate, a bolt radially movable of the plate, a projection on the casing adapted to be engaged by said bolt, a lever-arm for retracting said bolt, a locking-lever for holding the same retracted, centrifugal arms carried by the drum adapted when the same is suddenly rotated to operate said lever-arm to retract the bolt and operatively connect the said plate with the drum, and means for operating the lockinglever to release the latch, substantially as described.

5. In combination, the frame or casing hav- 3 combination with the disk or plate the springactuated latch or bolt and the means for withdrawing it from engagement with the stops,

ing a stationary shaft, a trolley-cord-winding drum journaled on said shaft, a spring acting on said drum, a plate journaled on said shaft, adjacent the drum,an emergency-spring tending to rotate said plate, a bolt radially movable of the plate, a projection on the casing adapted to be engaged by said bolt, a leverarm for retracting said bolt, a locking-lever for holding the same retracted, centrifugal arms carried by the drum adapted when the same is suddenly rotated to operate said leverarm to retract the bolt and operatively connect the said plate with the drum, and means foroperating the locking-lever to release the latch, said means comprising a pivoted bar extending into the path of the projection on the casing and adapted to contact with said locking-lever, substantially as described.

6. In combination, a cylindrical casing, the springcontrolled pulley or drum rotatably mounted in said casing and the emergencyspring located between a pair of rotatably- 1 mounted disks or plates, of a spring-actuated bolt slidably held in a slot in the disk nearest to the said pulley, said bolt being held normally with its end projecting beyond the circumference of said disk, stops on the inside of said casing adapted to engage said bolt whereby the rotation of said disks is prevented, a releasing-arm pivoted at one end to said I disk and extending between a pair of projections on said bolt or latch, an engaging arm pivoted at one end in proximity to the center of said disk, aspring tending to force the free end of the said engaging arm to the circumference of the disk, said releasing-arm and said engaging arm each being provided with a projection extending toward said pulley, a

stop for limiting the swing of said engaging arm in the inward direction, a centrifugal clutch on the inner or adjacent face of said pulley adaptedto engage the projections .on said arms when the pulley is rapidly rotated thus drawing in the said bolt or latch and releasing the emergency spring, a retaining means for said bolt or latch designed to hold the same from operative engagement with the stops while the emergency-spring is unwinding and means for causing said retaining means to disengage said bolt or latch as soon as rewinding of the emergency-spring is commenced as and for the purpose specified.

'7. In a centrifugal clutch for a device of the class described the combination with a pulley and the stationary shaft, of a pair of to one end and the other to the other end of I said double lever, the opposite ends thereof being pivoted to said swinging bars, a spring secured to one of said swinging bars and means for adjusting the tension of said spring as and for the purpose specified.

8. In a device of the class described the of a substantially L-shaped or bell-crank j'lever pivotally secured to the said disk, means 'at one end of said lever for engaging the lower end of said bolt or latch, a spring de- IOC lever to disengage the bolt or latch as and g for the purpose specified. 9. In a device of the class described the combination with the emergency-spring and said bolt being beveled and designed to en- I0 the rotatable disks or plates between which gage a slot formed in the end of said emer it is located and to which it is suitably segency-spring as andfor the purpose specified.

cured at its outer end, of a collar secured to Signed at Ottawa this 15th day of Septemthe stationary shaft and having an inwardlyber, 1902.

extending slot or recess formed in the cir- JOHN JOSEPH ODONNELL. cnmference of said collar, a bolt located in Witnesses: said slot, a spring betweenthe end of said EDWARD P. FETHERSTONHAUGH,

bolt and the end of the slot, the outer end of F. O. ASKWITH. 

